U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn., announces he now favors gay marriage

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey announced Monday that he favors gay marriage, the latest of several lawmakers to change positions on the issue now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Casey said he made the shift after reviewing the legal, public policy and civil rights questions involved, as well as letters from Pennsylvania families.

"If two people of the same sex fall in love and want to marry, why would our government stand in the way?" Casey said. "At a time when many Americans lament a lack of commitment in our society between married men and women, why would we want less commitment and fewer strong marriages?"

April 1, 2013 (PHILADELPHIA): Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims (D – Phila.) today applauded Senator Bob Casey for coming out in support of same-sex marriage. Rep. Sims had just last week penned an open letter to the Senator urging him to stand up and voice his support for LGBT equality.

“Senator Casey is a thoughtful and contemplative man who today not only listened to the millions of voices of Pennsylvanians calling for him to support same-sex marriage, but strongly voiced that support as well,” Rep. Sims said. “I am pleased to see Senator Casey responding to the voices of his constituents and am eager to work with him in reaching out to the hundreds of thousands of LGBT Pennsylvanians who can now count on his support for LGBT equality.”

On Thursday of last week, Rep. Sims, Pennsylvania’s first openly gay elected state legislator, penned an open letter to Senator Casey urging him to take a stand and voice his support for LGBT equality.

“Senator, the same people who voted for me, voted for you, and I am so excited to report that a vast majority of them now support LGBT equality.” Rep. Sims wrote in his open letter. “So too do a majority of your Democratic colleagues. In fact, as of [March 28] you are one of only nine Democrats in the Senate who does not support marriage equality.”

Along with Rep. Sims, a chorus of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians flooded Senator Casey’s offices with letters and phone calls asking him to support same-sex marriage in efforts led by Equality Pennsylvania, Keystone Progress, and Moveon.org.

About PA State Rep. Brian Sims:

Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims is a policy attorney, advocate & speaker, most notably on issues pertaining to LGBT civil rights. In 2012, he was elected as the Democratic nominee for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 182nd legislative district. Facing no challenger in the general election, he became the first openly LGBT state legislator elected in Pennsylvania history.